The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday, May 17 exited its talks with the Federal Government over the reduction of the hiked price of petrol in the country threatening to commence with its planned strike action on Wednesday, May 18 despite a court order restraining such measures.
The Trade Union Congress however will not join in the strike according to its representatives at the meeting.
NLC President, Aliyu Wabba, represented the NLC at the discussions while Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal represented the Federal Government at the office of the SGF in Abuja, the capital city on Tuesday night.
Following the breakdown of discussions after the meeting, Lawal said, “The National Industrial Court has given an injunction that no strike by NLC and TUC should hold tomorrow (Wednesday). It is therefore clear that anyone embarking on strike tomorrow (Wednesday) is doing so illegally and government is assuring all Nigerians to come out and do their jobs tomorrow.
“It the duty of government to provide security for her citizens and anyone who tries to coerce any worker to do their bidding would be made to face the law of the land. We had full cooperation with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and they said they are not going on strike. For them, it is a complete return to work tomorrow (Wednesday). It is not the same with the NLC however. They have two factions, one agreed completely with the position of the TUC.”
However, speaking to journalists, Wabba revealed that the NLC will go ahead with the planned action because of the failure of the government to revert the price of petrol to N86 per litre.
Leave a reply